Birger Sandzén was born in Sweden in 1871. He studied art in Stockholm and then briefly in Paris with Edmond François Aman-Jean. 

 

In 1894, he moved to Lindsborg, Kansas to teach at the  Bethany College and he remained there for the remainder of his career, becoming the principal art instructor in 1899 and retiring as Professor Emeritus in 1946. 

 

During his career Sandzén created a copious amount of artwork: over 3000 paintings and watercolors, almost 100 sketchbooks, along with an extensive body of  lithographs, work cuts, and drypoints numbering in the tens of thousands.

 

Selected Collections:

Library of Congress

Chicago Art Institue, Chicago, IL

Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO

Museum of Fine Art, Santa Fe, NM

Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York City, NY

 

Selected Associations:

Taos Society of Artists

Prairie Water Color Painters

New York Water Color Society

Philadelphia Water Color Society

Mid-West Art Exhibition (founder)

Prairie Print Makers (charter member)

Society of American Etchers, Gravers, Lithographers, and Woodcutters